15 free comedy recommendations for the Edinburgh Fringe 2018

Laugh Out London brings you a list of some of the best free comedy shows you will see at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2018.

As usual we’ve avoided some of the bigger names and focused on newer/less-established acts who should be among your favourites, if they aren’t already. The shows are listed in chronological order for your convenience.

New for this year is our ‘must-see’ show. In each of our Fringe recommendation categories we will pick one outstanding act that you simply must see. It’s the one that’s all highlighted below.

Sooz Kempner

Super Sonic 90s Kid

Pop culture obsessive Sooz tries to work out how 90s videogames have shaped her life in a show that will appeal to anyone who still shudders at the pure dread of a rising water level while in control of a hedgehog.

Nathaniel Metcalfe

Chameleon, Comedian, Corinthian and Caricature

Another comic whose material is shaped by the pop culture he’s consumed, Nathaniel makes a very welcome return to the Fringe after a few years off in a show directed by Fringe favourite James Acaster. Previous shows have gone deep into the Honey Monster, Disney’s The Barefoot Executive and Deep Roy.

Ahir Shah

Duffer

After being nominated for Best Show at last year’s Fringe some people may have expected Ahir to go to a bigger, paid-for venue this year. But he’s stuck to the same room at the excellent Cabarat Voltaire and the same price at a marvellous £0. And will probably doing similar well-thought and critical stand-up on issues of genuine interest.

Louise Reay

Eraserhead

Louise is currently going through a rather horrible sounding legal battle concerning her comments on her ex-husband in a previous show. Free speech and censorship are some of the unsurprising topics of the latest show from this natural clown.

Arnab Chanda

Stories from Arnab

Arnab quit a promising stand-up career in 2011 to become a very successful producer at the BBC working on shows from John Kearns, Liam Williams, Romes Ranganathan and more. He’s back to tell stories about broken dreams, death and getting alopecia.

Tash Goldstone

Harriet Kemsley (must-see show!)

Slutty Joan

One of our all-time favourite stand-ups, Harriet is as charming as she is brilliant as she is nuts. This year she’s getting more political, taking on slut shaming and how society judges sexually confident women.